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September 28th, 2011

The Minnesota Timberwolves today announced the team has signed Rick Adelman to be the 10th head coach in franchise history. Adelman ranks eighth all-time in NBA coaching wins with a 945-616 (.605 winning percentage) career record in 20 seasons as a head coach. Per team policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed.

“After a thorough search and interview process, we’re pleased to be bringing a coach of Rick Adelman’s stature on board to coach the Minnesota Timberwolves,” said David Kahn, Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations. “Rick has proven time and again that he is one of the top coaches in basketball — one of the top coaches in the history of our sport. We are excited to have him as the leader of our young and talented team.”

“From the start of the hiring process David (Kahn) identified Rick as the best man for the job,” said Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor. “Rick has a proven track record of success in the NBA and we are pleased that he is our new head coach.”

Adelman, 65, has previously served as head coach of four NBA teams: Portland (1988-94), Golden State (1995-97), Sacramento (1998-2006) and Houston (2007-11). Some of his coaching highlights include: two NBA Finals appearances (1990 and 1992 with Portland), four Western Conference Finals (1989-90, 1990-91 and 1991-92 with Portland and 2001-02 with Sacramento) and four division titles (1990-91 and 1991-92 with Portland; 2001-02 and 2002-03 with Sacramento).

“I’m eager to start another chapter in my coaching career with the Minnesota Timberwolves,” Adelman said. “We have a good nucleus of young players that I feel can grow together and win. I’m looking forward to the challenge of building a playoff team here in Minnesota.”

Adelman’s teams have reached the NBA playoffs in 16 of his 20 seasons as a head coach, and he holds an all-time playoff record of 79-78 (.503 winning percentage). He is one of only five head coaches in NBA history to win 60+ games in a season with two different teams (Portland and Sacramento). Adelman has been runner-up for the NBA Coach of the Year award four times. Most recently, Adelman was the head coach of the Houston Rockets the past four seasons, leading Houston to a 193-135 record. His .588 winning percentage was the highest in franchise history.

Adelman’s trademark offenses have finished among the top five in the NBA in scoring on 13 occasions over his head coaching career. He has had four additional teams rank in the top 10 in points per game. His teams have also shown a great balance on the defensive end of the floor. Adelman has had seven squads finish in the top five in scoring defense. Adelman, who will report to Kahn, will announce his Timberwolves coaching staff at a later date.

Adelman began his coaching career at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon, where his teams amassed a 141-39 record over six seasons (1977-83). Chemeketa won or shared in three Oregon community college championships and one regional title.

As a player, Adelman spent seven seasons in the NBA with the San Diego Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers, Chicago Bulls, New Orleans Jazz and Kansas City-Omaha Kings. Selected by the Rockets in the seventh round (79th overall) of the 1968 NBA Draft, the 6-2 guard averaged 6.7 points, 3.1 assists and 2.7 rebounds in two seasons as a reserve in San Diego. Adelman was taken by Portland in the 1970 NBA Expansion Draft and was made the first team captain in Trail Blazers history. Traded by the Trail Blazers to the Bulls prior to the 1973-74 campaign, Adelman was again dealt to the Jazz early in the 1974-75 season. Looking for veteran leadership in their run to the 1975 NBA Playoffs, the Kings made a late-season acquisition to obtain Adelman. He retired in 1975 with career averages of 7.7 points, 3.5 assists and 2.4 rebounds in 462 regular season games.

Adelman began his playing career at St. Pius X High School in Downey, California, before attending Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where he was named MVP of the West Coast Athletic Conference as a senior in 1967-68.

The Atlantic 10 Conference announced that it has formed a five-year partnership with the Barclays Center to bring the A-10 men’s basketball tournament to Brooklyn and the new arena, beginning in 2013. The joint announcement was made Wednesday afternoon at the Barclays Center Showroom in Manhattan, N.Y.

It will mark the first time the A-10 Championship, which sends its champion to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, will be held in metropolitan New York City and the first time it will be played in a state-of-the-art new facility.

“The opportunity to partner with the Barclays Center and bring the Atlantic 10 Basketball Championship to New York has unlimited possibilities. Our teams will compete in the newest, state-of-the-art facility within the Atlantic 10 footprint and the number-one media market in the country,” stated Commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade.

Currently under construction, the Barclays Center will be a state-of-the-art sports and entertainment venue and the future home of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets. The Barclays Center will offer approximately 18,000 seats for basketball and will have one of the most intimate seating configurations ever designed into a modern multi-purpose arena. The last time the Atlantic 10 Tournament was in an NBA building was in 2002 at the Spectrum in Philadelphia.

“We are thrilled for the Barclays Center to play host to one of men’s basketball’s most prestigious conference tournaments,” Barclays Center CEO Brett Yormark said. “We appreciate our alliance with the Atlantic 10 as we position the Barclays Center as a significant national collegiate sports venue.”

The highest concentration of Atlantic 10 alumni of any region in the county live and work in the New York metro area. There are 2.5 million people total in Brooklyn and 8.1 million total people in New York, an opportunity for the A-10’s premier event to be played on the biggest stage in the nation.

“Brooklyn and the surrounding metropolitan New York area is home to over 100,000 Atlantic 10 alumni; this combined with the eight-million plus population will give the Atlantic 10 an opportunity to grow the Championship to new heights,” said McGlade.

The move also places the championship into the largest media market in the nation and home to CBS Sports, the Atlantic 10’s television partner for the men’s basketball championship. CBS Sports carries several regular season A-10 games and the league’s championship title game is aired on CBS as part of the network’s Selection Sunday package.

The Atlantic 10 is one of the most successful and well-respected leagues for basketball. The A-10 has averaged more than three teams per year in the top 50 of the RPI, equal to the Southeastern Conference. For the last four years, the Atlantic 10 earned three bids into the NCAA Tournament, one of only six Division I conferences to do so. Over the last six years, the league has had 10 at-large selections – the seventh most in Division I - behind only the big six BCS leagues.

Donnie Walsh has been spending most of his time at home in Indiana, waiting for the basketball season to start and waiting to make his next move.

He probably won’t have to go far. There is growing sentiment that Walsh will return to his old job of running the Pacers if and when Larry Bird steps down. According to several people close to the situation, Bird is leaning toward leaving Indiana after this season.

The plan would be for Walsh to replace Bird and name either Chris Mullin or Reggie Miller as general manager. When I spoke to Walsh last Friday in Manhattan before he was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame, he declined to address his future except to say that he still wants to work.

Tickets for the much-anticipated rematch between the Goodman League and Drew League, scheduled for Oct. 9, will go on sale at midnight Wednesday, Drew League commissioner Dino Smiley confirmed to ESPNLosAngeles.com.

The game will be played at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, where the Long Beach State 49ers play basketball and volleyball games. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 9, with doors opening at the arena at 4 p.m. and a 5 p.m. celebrity game featuring still-to-be-determined participants…

Capacity at the Walter Pyramid, including standing-room only, is 5600, Smiley said. The original Drew-Goodman game in August was played at the 1600-seat gymnasium at Trinity University in D.C.

Tickets, available through the Long Beach State ticket office, will start at $25 for assigned seating and go up to $100 for courtside seats.

Following the game, there have also been preliminary talks to hold a home-and-home series with Jamal Crawford’s Summer League in Seattle, Smiley said, which could be as soon as later in October.

Details are being finalized, and although no contracts had been signed by late Tuesday, an official announcement about the game and ticket information for the contest is expected Wednesday.

The game will be played at Florida International, where Basketball Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas is a coach.

Kevin Durant, Rajon Rondo and John Wall have also committed to play.

FIU’s gym can hold around 5,000 fans. University officials said they expect the game to quickly sell out. All proceeds will go to charity, with at least some of that money earmarked for educational programs in South Florida.

Marc Berman of the New York Post reports:

Leave it to Isiah Thomas to arrange a quasi-NBA All-Star Game at FIU.

The Miami Big 3 of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh and Knicks stars Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony will grace Thomas’ small Miami gym on Oct. 8 and play in an All-Star type event.

The rosters also will include other big names, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, Joe Johnson, Jamal Crawford, Rudy Gay, John Wall, Russell Westbrook and Eric Bledsoe. Even ex-Knick and Heat wannabe Eddy Curry is expected to show.

Fresh off a vacation to Bora Bora with his mother, Brenda, Derrick Rose said Tuesday that if the NBA lockout drags deep into the season, he will consider playing overseas.

“Yes, I am taking into consideration that I might move overseas,” Rose said. “I don’t know where. There are a lot of great places overseas. I haven’t really had time to get the details of every place.”

Rose said he has one concrete offer from an undisclosed foreign team and a source close to Rose said several others have inquired about his services. The source stressed those opportunities would be pursued only if regular-season games get canceled and labor talks break down for an extended period…

“It’s kind of weird knowing that I don’t have a job right now,” Rose said. “I haven’t felt this way from high school. It’s all positive, though. I’m hoping the season starts no matter when. Hopefully, I don’t have to go overseas.”

InsideHoops.com editor says: As the lockout continues, the vast majority of players in the NBA, if asked, will “consider playing overseas.” It doesn’t mean they’ll actually sign.